Could These Redesigned State Flags Bring America Together?

Ohio: "The sideways triangle represents hills and valleys, and the 'O' is the buckeye and also 'O' for Ohio. I reduced the number of stripes to three because I kept coming across threes in Ohio’s history (ex. admitted to the union in 1803)." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

California: "This is the only flag with curves, because I wanted to convey the feeling of driving along the coastline." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Texas: "The current flag is iconic and doesn’t need to be changed, but because this is a side project I thought it would be fun to conceptually emphasize the lone star on their flag. The goal is to make it even more iconic by enlarging the star." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

New York: "The Statue of Liberty’s crown has five points for the five states bordering the state and for New York City’s five boroughs. The red and white backwards 'L' is a nod to the Union Jack and a reminder of what we can do when we band together." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Alabama: "The symbol of Dixie in the middle is surrounded by eight triangles representing the eight Native American tribes who used to live there. The triangles also form a subtle “X” shape, referencing the existing Alabama flag." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Kentucky: "The intertwined arrows represent the joining of the frontiersman (red) and the statesman (blue) who are shaking hands on the existing state seal. That image (illustrating the motto, 'United We Stand, Divided We Fall') also appears on the flag. The angled lines suggest a 'K.'" --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Connecticut: "I noticed the red-white-red stripes for the flag because they are commonly used on most of the state’s branding, including their official website. I kept the grapevine from the existing flag and seal, because it was an early symbol of prosperity and is believed to represent early individual colonies." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Indiana: "I simplified the existing Indiana flag by removing everything but the torch of liberty. I adjusted the colors to make them cohesive with the new scheme. The star represents the state itself." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Kansas: "I kept Kansas simple and used the state flower, the wild sunflower, as the main element. The star in the middle represents the state itself." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Maine: The blue triangle in the center is a big pine tree, and the upside-down triangle alongside the white diagonal on the right represent the ocean and coastline." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Maryland: "The existing flag depicts the coats of arms of the state’s two founding families and is very well-liked. I kept that idea but simplified it and united the symbols." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Michigan: "The white is the peninsula and the rising sun. The shield represents defense, which comes up three times in the current flag. The three stars symbolize Michigan’s three mottos: 'Out of Many, One'; 'I Will Defend'; and 'If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look Around You.'" --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Montana: Montana means 'mountains' in Spanish — these form an abstract 'M.' The white lines are snow, and the blue field is sky (big sky country)." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

New Mexico: "The existing flag’s design is iconic and is one of the best liked state flags so I didn’t change much, just the color." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Pennsylvania: "A nib of a pen occupies the lefthand side, representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Three stars represent the state motto: 'Virtue, Liberty and Independence.'" --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Vermont: "I updated the original Green Mountain Boys flag used by the Vermont militia of the 1770s." --Ed Mitchell. Image: Ed Mitchell

Pop quiz! What’s on your state flag? If you’ve lived somewhere for a while, you probably have a decent idea. Michigan, my home state, flies a plain blue rectangle with a busy emblem in the center involving some deer, I think. But if you’re a newcomer to your current state of residence, there’s a good chance you’re totally clueless about what’s flying above city hall. The truth is you don’t really encounter state flags all that often.

Mitchell started by researching the current flags. Many were born in the last decade of the 19th century, when states wanted their own unique banners to fly at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Many southern states, like Mississippi and Georgia, drew from old Confederate iconography; others like New Mexico and Maryland incorporated symbolism unique to their state; others still, like Michigan, Kentucky, Kansas and more reverted to a template of sorts: a state seal centered against a plain, navy blue backdrop.

Delaware’s current state flag compared to its simpler, more cohesive redesign. Image: Ed Mitchell

To figure how what direction to take with his redesigns, Mitchell consulted the principles outlined in 1969 by the International Federation of Vexillological Associations–the worldwide flag people. Their five rules of good flag design, put generally: 1. flags should be simple enough to be drawn by a child; 2. they should use meaningful symbolism; 3. they should use only two or three basic colors; 4. no text or seals allowed; 5. be distinctive, or be related–not duplicative. Going by these guidelines, Mitchell points out, our current state flags fall short on a few fronts. Thirty six states currently use more than three colors, and 27 proudly feature their state seal.

Then it was time for the hard part: actually coming up with a look for the new flags. Mitchell’s first move was to strip away “everything that reminded me of a divided nation,” he writes. All the Confederate-related stars and bars had to go. He took up some new symbols: the star and the stripe, for obvious reasons, along with the eagle, the olive branch, the shield, and Lady Liberty. He focused on geography as a key to a state’s visual identity, using blue to represent water, and triangles to represent hills, valleys and mountains. He also shrunk down the proportion of the flag, making it 1 by 1.5–a slightly boxier version than the longer 1 by 1.9 American flag, and a shape that looks appropriately subordinate flying under the Stars and Stripes on a flagpole.

Some thumbnail images of Mitchell’s redesigned flags show the cohesion across the collection. Image: Ed Mitchell

The resulting 50 flags certainly do operate as a cohesive whole. Some flags, like Colorado and New Mexico, retained their general appearance, just getting a makeover with more patriotic colors. Others saw total symbolic overhauls: Mitchell’s flag for Kansas, for example, shows two interlaced arrows–one red, one blue–centered around a white star. “The intertwined arrows represent the joining of the frontiersman and the statesman who are shaking hands on the existing state seal,” he writes. Plus, the arrows echo the general shape of a “K.” Maryland’s current flag is a visually chaotic juxtaposition of the coats of arms of two of the state’s founding families. Mitchell kept those well-liked elements but combined them into a more visually unified design–a “simple refinement” he says.

In many cases, Mitchell’s simple flags are a good deal less exciting than their odd forebears. And it’s hard not to miss some of the more unusual visual miscellanea that the new designs do away with. Still, Mitchell sees value in the cohesion. “I would personally prefer to adhere to the idea of keeping our state and national symbolism current and meaningful,” he says, “which does not mean abandoning history but celebrating progress.”

Is a more cohesive collection of flags really worth sacrificing the history that comes with the ones we know today?

Of course, the real question with such a project is this: Why do we need unified flags in the first place? How often do we compare our state flags, anyway? Do their differences really drive us apart? And the big one: is a more cohesive collection of flags really worth sacrificing the history that comes with the ones we’re familiar with today? Almost certainly not. Many would probably argue that our idiosyncratic flags are actually the perfect reflection of a largely idiosyncratic collection of states. We didn’t start this thing all at once: States joined in, territories were annexed, borders were drawn–and all along the way, flags were made.

Mitchell acknowledges as much, but he does think there’s value in reminding ourselves–if only symbolically–that at the end of the day, these states of ours are supposed to be united. And if nothing else, his project does reflect that–the 50 redesigns are strongest, he says, when viewed as a set. “One of my favorite things is the way they sit together as a group,” he says. “They are not perfect by any means, but I do like the way they read–and the overall message they send–when they are together.”